Macomb County voters favored tax proposals, incumbent township supervisors fought off challengers and a controversial proposal to stretch term limits for Warren’s mayor drew strong support in Tuesday’s election.

In one of two countywide tax questions, voters strong supported a proposal to increase the millage that funds service for Macomb County veterans through the Macomb County Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Veterans Affairs Commission, based on partial election returns at press time late Tuesday. The 0.04 mills levy which had been scheduled to expire in 2018 will jump to 0.069 mills for the next two years and then renew for four years, through 2022.

A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 of a property’s “taxable value.” The higher millage rate is expected to generate $1.75 million for county veterans’ services in the first year.

A majority of county voters on Tuesday also supported a 10-year renewal of the 0.1 mill for the Macomb County Zoological Authority to help fund the Detroit Zoo, 59 percent to 41 percent.

Advertisement

Richard McDonald, 61, of Chesterfield Township and retired sales executive, was in the minority.

“I voted against the zoo because I’m tired of paying taxes to Detroit and because they abuse them,” McDonald said.

Michael Pease, 64, a retired Wayne State University assistant professor who voted yes in support of the police/fire millage renewal in Warren.

“Our firefighters and police all need encouragement. They’re doing a wonderful job and we can’t afford not to have them. Crime is going up,” Pease said.

Meantime, a tax increase approved five years ago to fund local street repairs and replacement Warren, and set to expire in December, also received a thumbs-up Tuesday from 75 percent of voters. The passage of the proposal – for five years and up to 2.1 mills – is expected to produce $6.8 million next year.

Tuesday’s results again showed the willingness of Warren property owners to pay higher millage rates to fund city services.

In 2010, voters approved a 20-year, 0.85-mill increase in the library millage was approved in 2010; the original 5-year, 2.1-mills hike for residential street repairs and replacement passed in 2011; and the 4.9 mills jump in 2012 for police and fire service levels passed overwhelmingly.

Drawing more attention in Warren political circles was a controversial measure that asked voters whether they wanted to revise the city’s law on term limits for elected city officials. The proposal to extend the cap on mayoral terms from three 4-year terms, to five 4-year terms (20 years), was favored by 52.7 percent of voters.

For current Mayor James Fouts, who was re-elected last November to a third term at age 73, passage will permit him to run for re-election in 2019. If he runs and wins that year, he could ask residents in 2023 to keep him in the top city office for an additional four years.

Fouts’ used funds from his campaign committee to pay for two fliers mailed in recent weeks, urging residents to support the terms limits extension and the renewal of the two millage increases.

Just days before voters headed to precincts Tuesday, an unknown entity calling itself Concern Warren Residents urged residents to vote no on the term limits question. The mailer clearly riled Fouts on Election Day. On Facebook, the three-term mayor asked residents to use cellphones to take photos of any person distributing what he dubbed “false, nasty, misleading, and defamatory campaign flyers attacking members of my administration and myself.”

“This is UNSIGNED campaign literature. We need to know who is doing this so that we can take legal action. Please contact me or e-mail me. This is the worst that I have seen in my political career,” he said.

Last March, Fouts claimed he was not involved in getting the mayoral extension to the ballot. City Councilman Robert Boccomino made the council motion to put the term limits issue to voters. Boccomino insisted he spearheaded it alone, saying voters should have a new opportunity to decide what term limits should look like in Macomb County’s most-populated community.

Warren voters first approved term ceilings on all elected city officials in 1999 on the mayor, council, clerk and treasurer, retroactive to 1995.

After casting her ballot Tuesday, Irene Bresinski of Warren, who said she is in her 60s, said she voted against the extension of term limits.

“I don’t think they should be in that long although I do like our mayor,” she said.

Her sentiment was echoed by Warren resident Lanette Olejniczak, who unsuccessfully ran for a city council seat in 2015: “I think it is really a sad day when people decide to extend term limits for any given politician. This is not just about Fouts, this is about all politicians. Allowing politicians to dominate offices and continue to stay in office year after year creates a stagnated government. A democracy is never about the rule from a select few individuals”

“The voters continue to blindly follow the same leaders without exploring new any fresh ideas and progressive movement for their city. Mayor Fouts supported term limits when he was on council; How soon he forgets that,” Olejniczak added.

According to final results reported in Eastpointe, residents voted 70 percent to 30 percent to pass a city charter amendment that allows city government to notify residents of special assessment rolls via first-class mail rather than registered mail. A majority of voters also said yes to a proposal to allow the city of Wayne to join Eastpointe and Hazel Park in the South Macomb Oakland Regional Service Authority.

Millage increases on the ballot in Roseville and Utica also got a favorable nod. The Roseville Public Library got a boost with passage of a 10-year millage increase in an amount not to exceed 0.5 mills. That support from residents is expected to produce almost $425,000 for the city’s library system in the first year. In Utica, the approved increase of 0.4 mills, to bring the new levy to 1.24 mills, is expected to raise more than $72,000 in the first year of the 10-year levy for the library.

In St. Clair Shores, a new millage of up to 5 mills for the police and fire departments will replace an expiring levy.

In northern Macomb County, voters approved:

• A 0.75 mills renewal in Bruce Township for parks and recreation, and 0.24 mills for senior citizen transportation.

• A 2-mill increase in Washington Township for police protection for the next four years, and renewed up to 2 mills for ambulance and advanced life support services. Washington residents also passed renewals the township’s levies that fund parks and recreation, and for senior transportation. Affirmative votes were required of voters in the two neighboring townships for both levies to be including in upcoming tax bills.

Contested partisan races were decided in several township races across the county, including some involving incumbent supervisors.

In Macomb Township –- where every candidate for the Board of Trustees filed as a Republican -- incumbent Supervisor Janet Dunn easily fended off a highly-charged challenge from Mark Grabow, who was attempting a political comeback for the office he formerly held, and used public board meetings in recent months to lambast some incumbents.

In a battle of Richards at the top of the township portion of the ballot in Shelby Township, incumbent Republican Supervisor Richard Stathakis defeated Richard Batchelder.

“It was a tough and unnecessarily nasty campaign,” O’Leary said. “I think the whole community is glad it’s behind us. We’re going to move the community forward with all the things that are great about our community.”

The four trustees candidates who received the highest number of votes were Abby Jacobson, Stanley Babinski, Sebastian Sam Previti and Harold Miller.

Incumbents in Bruce Township won their respective seats. Supervisor Richard Cory (44.6 percent) was the top vote-getter among three candidates for the top post. Township Clerk Susan Brockman received 55 percent and Treasurer Deborah Obrecht got 63 percent in their respective contests.

In Mount Clemens, a partial term on the City Commission went to Bill Ford, who in unofficial voting finished two votes ahead of Laura Fournier.

Winners in the respective Republican and Democratic primaries advance to the Nov. 8 general election.